


Lean on Me

by MauveCat



Series: Family Snapshots [2]
Category: Endless Summer (Visual Novel)
Genre: Family Feels, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:53:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24062422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MauveCat/pseuds/MauveCat
Summary: Sean and Raj eat and talk.(summaries are not my strong point.)
Series: Family Snapshots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1729411
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5





	Lean on Me

Stretching and yawning, Raj stumbled out of the spare bedroom. “Thanks for letting me crash here, dude – whoops!” He clamped a hand over his mouth when he saw that Sean was on the phone.

“Hang on, Mom,” Sean said. Then he smiled at Raj; it was probably supposed to be reassuring but Raj could see the tension behind it. “Sorry, Raj. Gonna need a few minutes here.”

“Hey, right, no problem! I'll just get started on breakfast... oh.” He looked at the clock. “Okay, lunch.” 

As Sean slid open the balcony door and stepped outside, Raj headed for the kitchen. He opened the gleaming refrigerator and peered curiously inside. It was moderately disappointing; not much beyond the basics, but... he grinned. There was something he could work with. Sean said his mother came over at least once a week to cook for him, and here was the proof. “Meatloaf! Yeah, here we go.” Putting the leftovers on the counter, he rooted around until he came up with some cheese and a lonely little green pepper. He searched the cupboards and pantry... okay, not much spice-wise but enough to work with. He made a mental note to send Sean a care package as soon as he got near a decent market.

Before long, Sean came into the kitchen. “Sorry about that... oh, wow. Why does that smell so good?”

Without looking away from the stove, Raj said, “It's mostly the onions. They're not really caramelized because that takes a while and I am starving, but it'll work. Found some tortillas here so I'm slicing up that meatloaf, smacking some cheese and onions on top, and we're in business.”

“Sounds great. You want a beer?”

“You have to ask?” Raj accepted the beer and opened it. He kept his eyes on his onions as he asked, “Everything okay with your mom?”

“Yeah, she's great.” Sean leaned against the counter. “The call was about Keith.”

Raj groaned. “What's your brother up to now?” He turned off the burner and started assembling the wraps.

“The usual. Out of work. Asking Mom for money. Talking to the tabloids – 'Sean Gayle's brother tells all.' Nothing he hasn't done before. My agent says there's nothing about La Huerta in the latest story but....”

Raj finished his thought. “But it might start up another round of questions. Got it – I'll let the others know to be on their guard for a while. Aaaand we're good!” He presented Sean with a plate and grabbed his own. “So where's the dining room in this joint?”

Sean shook his head. “Too fancy – I hardly ever use it. Let's go in the living room. I usually eat there or here in the kitchen.” 

“Your place, your rules.” Raj followed Sean into the living room. As he sank into one of the deep leather couches, he said, “You say the dining room is fancier than this? Wow. I feel like we should put down a drop cloth or something.”

“Nah, it's good. But, um, there's a coaster right there....”

“Look at you, being a grown-up,” Raj said as he carefully set down his beer. “Don't want to be nosy, dude, but....”

Sean grinned. “We're family, Raj. Got no secrets from you, not after what we went through. Ask away.”

“Things are still rough with you and your brother, huh?”

“Yeah, afraid so. Probably always will be.” He sighed. “I can't really blame him for moving out the first chance he got – I've told you about how bad things were with my dad. But Keith left me and Mom to deal with the rages and the benders and everything else. I was eight years old and I thought I had to be the man of the house because even then I could tell Dad wasn't good for anything. You know how proud I was when I finally got big enough to hit him back?” He shook his head. “Hell of a thing to be proud of.”

Raj looked at him in concern. “Hey, cut yourself some slack. You were a kid and you were protecting your mom – nothing to be ashamed of there.”

“Maybe. Anyway, Keith's nowhere near as mean as Dad was but he couldn't ever find his way, you know? Never had much to do with him all these years, but now he thinks that since I made it to the NFL, it's my job to take care of him. He never really forgave me for telling him no. Mom still slips him money when he asks but at least he's stopped asking me.”

“I guess that's something.” Raj chewed thoughtfully. “So, how are things between you and Michelle these days?”

“That's your idea of changing the subject?” But Sean smiled. “We're in a good place. We're not in the same place, but it's still good.”

“I don't get it.”

“Me and Michelle... well, we gave each other some space after La Huerta before I made a peace offering and we thought we might try to give it another shot. Lately, though, we did a whole lot of talking about where we stand. We finally agreed that we're friends – we're good friends – but that's it. And we're both okay with that.”

Raj's face fell. “Awwww.”

Sean shrugged and leaned back. “It's sad for both of us, not gonna pretend it's not. But that doesn't make it a tragedy. We both figured out that we got together for the wrong reasons, you know? At first neither of us realized it, and then neither of us wanted to admit it. I guess... man, this is hard.”

“Look, dude, you don't have to talk about this –”

“Nah, it's okay. Hard, but okay. Michelle accused me of being too ready to believe her friends when they lied about her, and you know what? She was right. I knew things weren't good between us but I didn't have the balls to even talk about it, let alone do anything about it. So when her friends told me she was cheating on me... damn, I jumped on that. Didn't stop to question it, or give her a chance to say if it was true or not. Said she was making a fool out of me, just wanted me because I was the QB. I shoulda known there was more to it – I mean, Craig never stopped being her friend even after I broke up with her.” He shook his head. “I tried to play the bro card with him but he wasn't having it. Probably the first time he got mad at me for real. Told me I was an idiot and that I didn't care that much about Michelle in the first place. Then I told him... well, fill in the blanks and then think of something worse. It got ugly.”

“Ouch.” Raj winced.

“Yeah, that's about the size of it. The next day we were fine – Craig doesn't really do grudges. Of course, what I couldn't face was that Craig had it right about me. I asked Michelle out because she was gorgeous and brilliant and ambitious – I figured if I could score a girl like that, I was... worth something, you know? That I wasn't just a jock.”

“You really think that's all you are?”

“Yep. Or at least, that's all I was back then. I played football. I mean, I did all right in my classes but that because even if I was okay with being a jock, I didn't want to be a dumb jock. At least I didn't pay anyone to take tests for me.”

“I didn't know that went on at Hartfeld!” 

“Hell, yeah. It does at every school. Hartfeld was kinda unusual because the coaches actively warned us not to do it – they didn't say to not get caught, they said don't do it. But it still went on. Remember that running back from our sophomore year who left school all of a sudden?”

Raj stared into space, then shook his head. “Nope. Sorry.”

Sean grinned. “Guess it was a bigger deal to the team than to anyone else. But yeah, he got caught after he spent a whole semester buying his history papers. A TA finally checked them for plagiarism and boom. They hushed it up the best they could but he was kicked out.”

“Wow.” Shaking his head, Raj picked up his wrap. “Wasn't there any subject you really liked?”

“Honestly? Not really. I was just focused on passing. I was there to get on the team, and then I was there to stay on the team, and then I was there to get scouted to the NFL. Didn't really think much past that... not until La Huerta. Not until Taylor. She made me think about all kinds of things.” Sean laughed a little. “And now look at me. I'm the QB for the Condors, pulling down seven figures a year for the next few years.” He sighed. “And now I'm thinking about what comes after that.”

“You never thought about the future when you were in school?”

“Never really let myself. I should've, because I saw what happens when you don't have a plan. My dad played until his knees gave out and he didn't know what he was supposed to do with himself. He always spent the money as soon as it came in. He was a football hero – he was on half my classmates' lunch boxes, for God's sake – and every week I watched my mom fight to scrape together enough for groceries. I grew up knowing I didn't want to be like my dad, but I never thought about how I was gonna avoid it.”

Slowly, Raj nodded. “But you're thinking about it now?”

“Well, yeah.” Sean scratched his nose. “I can live really well on half – hell, even on a fourth of what I make every year and still help out my mom. God knows she deserves it. And if she wants to help Keith out... well, I guess there's still a lot left over. I've got a five-year contract and then I'm a free agent. I figure I can keep playing for a couple years after that but I'm not gonna punish myself.”

“Gotta save those knees, huh?”

“And my back, and my brain, and my soul. I'll probably retire around the time I'm thirty, maybe thirty-two at the outside. Can't see this lasting much longer. And who knows, I could get hurt in a game this year and there goes the plan. But the first thing I did when I signed that contract was get myself a good money manager – the agent came second. We're investing half my salary right off the top and if her figures are right, by the time I retire I should be sitting on a pretty big pile.”

“Don't forget merchandising!” Raj's eyes widened. “That's where you're really gonna clean up. I know the Condors already have t-shirts with your face, but there are posters, endorsement deals... Dude! Tell me you're gonna get your own lunch box!”

“Not gonna count on that, but yeah, that would add to the pile.”

Raj was quiet for a few moments. Then, carefully, he asked, “Is that why you're so careful about your image? You don't want to do anything to screw up whatever endorsements you might get?”

Sean nodded. “That's part of it, yeah. I'm not in it for the money but I sure don't have any objections to it, either! Besides, that, though, God knows there are enough bad boys already in professional sports, I don't see why I should be one of them.” He laughed and looked at Raj sheepishly. “Look, I'm not saying that I want to be a role model or anything. I just don't see any reason to be a bad example for as long as I can make this last. And after I wrap all of this up....” Sean trailed off.

Raj leaned forward. “What? You got a plan?”

“Well... kind of. Maybe?” Sean shrugged. “When I was a kid, I went to the local youth center every week. There was a guy there who taught woodworking and I found out that I really enjoyed building things. Once they figured out I was good at football, they made me quit – gotta watch the hands, right? But I always liked the way it felt to turn nothing into something. So, I kinda think that when I retire, I'm getting into contracting or something like that. Put houses together for folks who need them.”

“Trading the helmet for a hard hat, huh?” Raj grinned.

“Something like that.” Sean took a drink. “But come on, Raj, that's enough about my career. Tell me more about this meeting you got lined up.”

“Weeelll....” Raj took a deep breath and blew it out. “I didn't really think my YouTube channel would take off like it did. But it gets a ton of hits and a ton of subscribers, and I guess this network thinks they can make some money off of me. So if everything works out, I'm gonna have my own show. An actual show!” He grinned in spite of himself. “My grandma's telling all her friends that it's a done deal. I tried to tell her it wasn't guaranteed, but she says she knows better.”

“Damn right she does! I've eaten your food and I've seen your channel. Even got some of my teammates subscribed to it. The network would be crazy to pass you up.”

Raj shrugged, but he looked pleased. “Let's just see how it goes.”

Sean took a bite of his wrap. When he'd swallowed, he said, “Make a batch of these for the meeting – that'll seal the deal. What else is going on with you?”

“Oh, the usual. Hanging out with my friends, coming up with recipes – oh, I just read this great book on the iron law of wages and how it relates to consumer trends. And I'm thinking about getting a dog.”

Sean looked at him skeptically. “And... that's it?”

“What, you don't like dogs? Not even the scraggly ones with big sad eyes?”

“You know what I mean. Is there... um, anyone?”

Raj grinned. “We've been over this, dude, and I'm over this. I'm really not looking to date anyone. Never really been into the whole relationship thing, you know? Got my friends, got my family, got you guys. I don't feel like anything's lacking in my life.”

“Okay, okay. Message received.” Sean lifted his beer can in a toast. “To minding my own business.”

“Nah.” Raj tapped his can against Sean's. “To taking care of each other. It got us this far, it'll take us the rest of the way.”


End file.
